The National Enquirer, the tabloid at the center of many controversies involving former President Donald Trump, will be sold to a joint venture involving Theodore Farnsworth, the former MoviePass chairman who has been criminally charged with security fraud.
The Enquirer’s parent company, a360 Media, has agreed to sell the publication, along with other tabloid brands National Examiner, Globe and National Enquirer UK, to VVIP Ventures, a joint venture formed by vinco companies and Icon Publishing, the companies said Monday.
The price of the deal was not disclosed, but Farnsworth, the founder of Icon Publishing, told the New York Times which was just under $100 million. The National Enquirer has been on the block for about four years.
In November, prosecutors alleged Farnsworth and Mitchell Lowe, the former CEO of MoviePass, misled investors about the once-hot movie ticketing startup by saying their «unlimited» plan would be sustainable and profitable. Rather, authorities said, the two men knew it was simply a marketing ploy. A Farnsworth spokesman has said his lawyers will fight the charges until he is vindicated.
News of the settlement comes a week after former National Enquirer editor David Pecker and his attorney were seen entering a Manhattan courthouse where a grand jury was meeting to determine whether to indict Trump for an alleged scheme to pay silent money to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
Pecker was known to be friends with Trump. He has been accused of using «catch-and-kill» tactics in stories that Trump considered potentially embarrassing. That is, the Enquirer under his watch would allegedly pay for stories about Trump and never publish them.
In 2018, for example, federal prosecutors gave immunity to the parent company of the National Enquirer for the secret $150,000 payment the tabloid gave to Karen McDougal, the Playboy model who claims she had an affair with Trump.